You've just opened the door to something fantastically different and mind-blowingly cool!Here's why...

Tintagel Castle, the ancient ruin, Cornwall.

There are three things I really, really love doing; exploring our amazing planet, learning about our incredible ancient history, and writing. So what could be more fun than combining these passions to create an exciting, realistic and interesting adventure series for you to read? And so, may I introduce to you my first two books The Obsidian Mask and Secrets Of The River. These are the true-to-life, international adventures of four young teenagers. They are extremely exciting, realistic, down-to-earth and very believable. That means, no wizards, no magic spells and definitely no morphing werewolves or zombies. Just great and dangerous stories with a dramatic backdrop of ancient history, a little archaeology (how it really is, so we get a feel for what goes on on a dig) and some very cool characters that we can relate to, understand and get to know as friends throughout the series.

These adventures have a distinct international flavor, (or flavour, if you eat 'tomartoes' instead of 'tomaytoes'), as each book is set around an ancient historical site in a different part of the world.

In The Obsidian Mask, we meet the four teenagers, siblings Natasha, 15, and Alex, 13 from London, who fly out to the Middle East see their archaeologist mother, Julia, at work on an important desert excavation. Lorenzo, 16, and Gabriella, 13, from Italy, are already there, visiting their father, Marcello, the larger than life, experienced archaeologistanddirector of the dig, whose team is unearthing the tomb of an ancient Mesopotamian warrior queen. But don't be fooled, experiencing the workings of an archaeological dig, finding the fascinating ancient artifacts is just the tip of the iceberg! This is a thriller not to be taken lightly. These four teens fall into some seriously deep, scary trouble and become tied together in more ways even they thought possible!

This is the book trailer for The Obsidian Mask.Turn up the sound and be transported to the hot, Mesopotamian desert! I love this book trailer. You will see Gabriella escaping across the sands.. but why is she running? Who is after her?

you'll really enjoy these books... Archaeology doesnt have to be make-believe, It 's exciting enough As it is!

Five years ago showing students how to write
their names in cuneiform.

These non dystopian adventures of the four young teens are different from anything you've read before. You'll feel like you are actually with them, in the heat, on a real, archaeological dig, and you'll be there, in the thick of their heart-thomping adventures.See what other readers thought about The Obsidian Mask in the drop-down menus above.If you'd like to read the synopsis, click on 'BOOKS'. But be warned --- spoiler alert!

The sequel to The Obsidian Mask, Secrets of the River, is based in northern Italy, where Lorenzo and Gabriella live. What on earth would hidden art stolen by the Nazis during World War 11, or Hannibal of Carthage and his elephants of war have anything to do with a cache of ancient Etruscan ships buried in layers of silt under the Pisa railway station that Marcello and Julia are excavating? Well, mysterious goings on at Lorenzo and Gabriella's ancestral villa in the hills of the Trebbia Valley lead the four teens, Natasha, Alex, Gabriella and Lorenzo, suspecting that someone very close to home is hiding a rather disturbing secret. But after a series of extraordinary events and some digging around of their own, the four teens realize they've stumbled onto something they really wish they hadn't, and there's no going back. They find out the hard way that some secrets are probably best left well alone... The Irish Queen of Algiers, book 3, is under way. The four teenagers Natasha, Alex, Gabriella and Lorenzo find themselves in the thick of another dangerous adventure, this time in north Africa. Well, you can hardly blame them; wouldn't you want to find out why an old, cracked sarcophagus, in a dilapidated, crumbling palace courtyard miles from anywhere, almost completely swallowed up by the encroaching Sahara desert, would have the name 'Catherine' inscribed in Arabic on its side?

Apart from this exciting, ongoing series involving the four reluctant adventurers, I have also written several short stories, the first of which, The Clearing, is now available directly from me, FREE! Email me with an address to send it and you will receive this little book with a big story FREE, wherever you are in the world! The synopsis of this story is on the drop-down menu under 'BOOKS'. Please feel free to email me and ask questions about the books. I look forward to hearing from you. It is great to be in touch with my readers! Here's the email; info@carolineludovici.com.Don't forget to follow The Obsidian Mask on Facebook! Lots of interesting archaeological stories and discoveries are posted every day from all around the world, just for you, to check it out and discover something cool!

Enjoy!

Caroline

Coming soon. Book 2, from Hannibal's crossing into Italy to sunken ships under the railway station in Pisa.. another exciting international adventure for Natasha, Lorenzo, Alex and Gabriella..

For every copy of the Obsidian Mask sold, a tree will be planted through Eco Libris, working towards sustainable reading

"Thank you very much for transporting me to the desert to explore the legendary Queen Sorrea’s tomb! I thoroughly enjoyed the adventure at the heart of your book, and felt that the characters were all believably drawn and easy to relate to. The archaeological excavation setting was true-to-life and interesting, and the descriptions of the mask and mosaic very captivating."Nikki Milsted, Editor YAC, Young Archaeologist Magazine